Stories from the famiies of those brave ancestors who made the sea voyage to Australia

Why we need a Garden

Different people find different reasons and uses for a garden. There might have been a few green thumbs in our family but not much interesting evidence shows up as an accessory in family photos. In this photo it would appear there are some roses in the front garden of Park Farm at Carisbrook in Central Victoria, a spiky sort of bush and a gumtree in the background

But of more interest is what went on in that small patch of lawn between the roses and the house.

Park Farm, Carisbrook

Behind the roses was a patch of lawn where croquet could be played. You can see the hoops and the mallets. Seated at the centre of the group is Freidrich Eberhard Fricke (1838 – 1899), surrounded by three daughters and three grandchildren, From the year of his death and the age of the children the photo would seem to have been taken in 1898 or 1899

Oral history says that when the two of them were making their way north from Melbourne with a horse and dray they passed the troopers returning from the Eureka incident at Ballarat,

He and his wife had 9 children, only one of whom died young.

He was a farmer at Park Farm, Carisbrook.

Oral history says he and his brother had a milk run and wore calfskin waistcoats

He was the uncle of poor Henry Fricke who was killed ina train accidentin a previous post.

Had a term as Shire President

Grew an apple tree from seed which produced apples over 11 cm in diameter. A few trees which are descendants of this tree still exist.

He won prizes at agricultural shows for walnuts, a cow and calf, a two year old heifer, a Roller, 20 bushels of seed wheat, and cooking apples, And that was just at Carisbrook in 1869.

And he took some relaxation sitting on the lawn in the middle of his garden with its roses and spiky tress.

If we move on to the next generation the garden was also a good place to record the arrival of visitors. Freidrich’s eldest son Alfred had taken over the farm. Here he is on the right of the photo.

On the left is the third son, Fred, who we met before when he had a dunking in the flooded Yarra River. Doing well in his Government job, Fred was on a visit to his brother on the farm where he grew up. Once again we can see some of the lawn and those spiky palm (?) trees which were plentiful in the garden, They look as though they would be sharp. I’m guessing that someone will tell me what they are !

It looks as though Alfred hadn’t got dressed up for his visitors. I wonder if he knew they were coming. Remember last year we had the use of braces as one of our themes. In Defending Australia with Braces I wrote about how the braces were also used to thread through loops on underpants I think we can see an example of this with the top of Alfred’s white undergarment rolled up at the top of his trousers. He looks so happy. I only remember him with his failed memory thinking that I was his sister-in-law, my grandmother.

And another photo on the same day, with more of the garden showing,. At the moment I am sure enough to name the ladies. I need to do some consulting.

13 thoughts on “Why we need a Garden”

I love that word, clobber. I haven’t heard it for a long while. I must go back and read my C.J. Dennis again. And yes I found it in “Ginger Mick” “Yes, they’ve shed their silly clobber an’ the other stuff they wore ” A great word.

Boy, those really are spiky trees! Like you, I wonder if they were sharp? And that’s rather interesting the way Alfred is wearing those suspenders (or braces) with the rolled up whatever over the top of his pants?

Those are some big wickets. I might have done better at croquet with those. We used to play croquet almost daily in the summer. I still have my old croquet set. I’m tempted to set it up and play a bit. Love the sound of the wooden mallet against those wooden balls.

Those palms look very similar to the ones which grow here in my own garden in Lanzarote; they’re blowing in the breeze at the moment (quite noisy). I like the idea of having a garden area dedicated to playing croquet.

I don’t know what they’re called, but we have the same “trees” in California, probably brought in from somewhere else. A piece of land adjacent to where I live has plants from all over the world. It was once owned by a family that had a large nursery. Now there house and barns are long gone, but the exotic plants remain. It’s nice knowing plants are sometimes are still part of the “memories” of those who passed through.

I’ve looked at pictures but still can’t decide what sort of plant it is. But your comment on the garden next door reminds me of how disappointing it can be to drive past some place you once lived in and findmg the garden only a shadow of what you left behind, overrun with weeds and neglect, while sometimes it is an improvement on what you had had.